Designers Speak (Up) prints protest posters

Last week we held our first Designers Speak (Up) hui/kai/mahi = poster screen printing session in the print department at Auckland University of Technology. It was a fantastic way to catch-up and contemplate the last five months of activity since the first three posters brought attention to shocking gender imbalance displayed by the Designers Institute of New Zealand and their Best Design Awards, while doing the hands-on work. Printers Struan Hamilton and Greg Thomas prepared the screens and helped us print more than half of an ‘ambitious’ line up of posters:

— the three original protest posters (40/3, archive, and jury) — the subsequent 42/3, and updated archive posters— Ella Sutherland’s 25 Bros in a Row— Bryn Fenemor’s Diptych Study— our very first Directory template poster! (more on this soon)

A brilliant team effort by Amy Yalland, Caroline Powley, Dexter Edwards, Diana Albarrán González, Jade Tang-Taylor (whose idea it was to set the date in the first place), Jonty Valentine (seen holding baby J), Katie Kerr, Meighan Ellis, Richard Roach and Sarah Callesen — we printed multiples of five of the nine posters using Permaset inks on lush Colourplan colours, generously donated by Paper Source NZ.

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Our intention is to build a Designers Speak (Up) poster archive alongside the Directory of Women Designers, another project initiated by DSUp, as an exposé for graphic design in its purest form, and as a venue for expression and activism. The posters will be for sale on our SHOP, along with Action 40/3 tees + button badges, as a fundraiser to help cover DS(Up) website expenses and activities such as making posters.

photo / Amy Yalland

photo / Amy Yalland

Many thanks to Struan and Greg, Janine Field and her team at Paper Source — and to everyone who pitched in — for supporting Designers Speak (Up) and our kaupapa. To Ella Sutherland and Bryn Fenemor for contributing of their own volition to Designers Speak (Up) via the poster medium.

If you’re keen to help print posters in January or you have something to contribute to DSUp in written or visual form, let us know.